After his much-anticipated Ruff Ryder debut The Rest is History pretty much tanked sales-wise, Jin metaphorically hung up the mic, leading most fans to think he had retired forever and renounced the game. Quite the contrary. The Queens-bred MC simply felt the need to address certain issues in Rap, particularly the lack of quality MCs, the lack of passion, and of course, music industry politics. Feeling that the major label route wasnt the right forum for his expression, Jin redefined his objective, returned to his roots, and became The Emcee.

His agenda skewed a bit after a loss to Serius Jones at an AllHipHop.com-sponsored Fight Klub in New York, as some feared Jin had lost his edge. But weeks later, the battle-tested MC redeemed himself with a win at Power Summit in the Bahamas, claiming 50 large and reclaiming his dignityat least from a fan perspective. AllHipHop.com felt Jin had a lot of explaining to do about these recent events, not to mention his perceived retirement, his split from Ruff Ryder, and his conflict with Jermaine Dupri and fellow 106 & Park Freestyle Friday champ SunNY. Here, The Emcee lets loose and enlightens inquiring minds.

AllHipHop.com: Lets start with your recent Fight Klub win in the Bahamas. What was your mindset going into that battle; did you feel you had to redeem yourself from the [previous] Fight Klub in New York?

Jin: Well, first things first, I went in very confidentthe same way I went in last year. I guess the L that I caught a few weeks ago or so had an effect on me, but it also didnt. I mean, it didnt in the sense that, it wasnt the first battle that I lost. That L was sort of like a reality check, like, Yo youre going to the Bahamas, its 50 grand, and on top of that, you know whos gon be there watching already, as far as the media and the industry. So that gave me a heads-up, which I think, honestly, I wouldnt have had if I didnt catch the L at the Fight Klub [in New York].

AllHipHop.com: So you dont think the battle in New York scathed your reputation at all? People said Serius said some crazy things [in his freestyle].

Jin: Oh, no doubt. I mean, its sort of like a catch 22 because I understand that at this point, the majority of the interviews that I do, that issue will come up, that battle will come up, and hell come up. My whole thing is just, I aint trying to give him extra promotion that I feel he doesnt deserve cause, you hearing this straight from me – he beat me fair and square that night. No matter how people wanna debate. Some of them are like, Yeah he had those certain type of lines that he could use and all types of different angles. But you would only hear that from them and not from me, because I know that the objective of a battle is basically to win the crowd, and different people have different strategies. But the one thing about battling is that, there really is no set rule. Its all contingent on what your own personal guidelines are. Now, the reason I felt so inclined to battle him at the Bahamas on some, Yo come up, let me smash you right now, is because I think he was getting a little more hype than he deserved. For one, because none of the stuff he said was particularly spectacular, like the whole eating dogs [comment].

To me, its not s**t that I havent heard before. Ive been battling since the seventh grade, and even [then], I was hearing these racial jokes, and its sort of become part of my career. One thing I pride myself on is Im able to bounce back from those without resorting to the same levels. And its not because I feel like I gotta worry about consequences and repercussions. I just feel like Im wittier than that. I dont need to go there. So, that particular night, I just lost myself, meaning I didnt bounce back from it. I really let it affect me that night. I was completely out of my element, and he was just on point and he killed it and he won. Now, the follow-up to that is just, hes doing interviews, and hes like, Im the guy that beat Jin and hes getting wild buzz off of this, and hes like, Yo, my spins went up ever since I beat Jin. Yo, all that tells me isthat says something about myself and what Ive accomplished, [that] somebody can build a career off of beating me. So that tells me like, Alright Jin, pat yourself on the back. Cause this guys claim to fame is beating you. I do so many battles outside of what people know about. People know about the Puerto Rico joint, they know about the Smack DVDs. Ill be at a car show where Ill end up battling somebody that just wanted to call me out, and Ill serve em and Ill smash em, but nobody will know about it cause its like, Jin wins another battle, whats the big deal. Meanwhile, if I catch an L, then its the end of the world. I mean, all that tells me is that people view me highly. And this whole Fight Klub in New York assured me that fact. When I went to the Bahamas, honestly, [Serius] wasnt even on my mind. [I was supposed to battle Rhymefest, not Serius.]

AllHipHop.com: Are you saying they planned that?

Jin: Yo, you tell me. I dont know, but honestly, my mentality that day was like, I dont care who you bring. On the day of the battle, when they had the pre-meeting when they bring all the contestants in to talk about the rules and the prize and whatever, all of a sudden at that meeting, theyre like, Rhymefest isnt in it but we have a substitute for him. And here comes Mr. Jones strolling in. So I dont know if they thought that was supposed to faze me or whatever. Nobody even knows this, but they asked me in the room, Yo, Jin is it cool if hes in the battle? And, I dont know, maybe they expected me to be like, Nah yo. But Im like, Hell yeah! Now, the moment I saw him and I knew he was gon be in it, my mindset was like, Yo, I hope he makes it to the finals. That way I can just settle this once and for all.

But, lo and behold, he doesnt even make it to the final round. He loses to the kid from London. I beat the kid from London, and at that very moment, I already knew what I had to do. I knew I had to be like, Yo, everybody, dont go nowhere. I know youre still in the building. Why dont we do this? Ima take 10Gs out of my own pocket. Cause the reality is, that Fight Klub [in NY], neither one of us put money up for that. Its not like I lost 10Gs to him. I just didnt win the 10Gs that they put up. Now, here at the Bahamas, I was like, Yo, if nobodys gonna sponsor this, Ill take 10Gs out of my own pocket. I know you still here Jones, lets do this. So it unfolded how it did. We waited and waited and waited. The DJs and everybody still in the building, but for some reason hes gone. Thats pretty much the whole story right there, and youre probably not gonna here me acknowledging him or addressing him anymore because you know at this point, no matter what, hes gonna try to salvage some sort of, Yo I left because I had to do this or something like that, but Im so beyond that, so thats what it is.

AllHipHop.com: Okay, so have you decided what youre gonna do with 50K?

Jin: [Laughs] Good question. I mean, the same thing I did last year wasmy unofficial money manager is my mom, so ultimately Im a grown man, so theres responsibilities I have. So its not necessarily like, Yo heres 50 grand, lets blow it at the strip club. Im just like you and everybody else thats reading this. Light bills, phone bills, [but] it was a blessing to be able to spit three 16s and make 50 grand. Thats another thing about people who are like, Yo why the hell is Jin still battling? Like, why one earth would I not do that? I aint Jay-Z yet. I aint getting no 25 grand for a guest appearance.

AllHipHop.com: Speaking on thatthe whole retirement thingcan you talk about why. When you said you were gonna retire, did you mean retire from making records?

Jin: Well, all of that, the whole concept of that retirement stemmed from this one record that I did. Basically, around June or so I turned 23, and I was just thinking to myself, like, Damn another year. What are you doing now? At this point in your life, what are you doing not only with your music, but just your life? So I come across this beat, and it just inspired me to kind of unleash all my different feelings and emotions on the beat. And the song ended up being I Quit. That record was just something I did in the spur of the moment, and pretty much, the joint was me expressing my distaste with being in the music industry. Not hip-hop itself, but just the whole being signed to a major and things of that nature. So I was just saying once and for all on that song, Yo Im sick of it, I quit. Now, next thing I know, that joint leaks and its on all these different sites, and people are like, Oh whats this, Jin retiring? And then, you got all these different publications calling and wanting to do interviews, andit wasnt even so much that that was my agenda. I wasnt doing that to get attention, but while all these people wanna interview me, I kind of expressed to them how I feel. Sometimes the best music is just expressing how youre feeling and thats how I felt.

AllHipHop.com: So you didnt really quit, per se?

Jin: Exactly. I think aside from all the speculation of it being a publicity stunt, the number one reason I did that was sort of like for my own personal sanity. I just needed to disassociate myself from that element. So where Im at with it right now is, after that whole saga and that episode unfolded I started getting back in the studio and I just started recording, and next thing you know, I had an album done. So right now what Im doing is the independent thing.